


My Old Heart

by darwinsdonut



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Fluffy, M/M, Maine Lives AU, Mention of Dr. Grey, Post Season 15
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-23 15:09:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14335146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darwinsdonut/pseuds/darwinsdonut
Summary: Washington wakes in the hospital with only vague memories and a painful throat. Then someone who looks inexplicably familiar walks in.





	My Old Heart

**Author's Note:**

> You can pry hospital scenes from my cold, dead hands; I will keep writing them till I die.

The hospital greeted Washington with dark memories and unpleasant thought patterns. 

Between the swirling regret of being separated from his new team and the negative connotations of waking up in a hospital, for the first few minutes he lived only as a being of despair. He hadn’t been able to help his team, and there was no telling where they were- or, really, where he was. He needed to know that they were okay. 

The doctor came in and spoke with him for a few minutes. She explained the hole in Washington’s throat, and how he’d heal but it would take time. She was surprised he knew sign language; he thought she seemed familiar, but couldn’t place her name… 

Not long after the doctor left the room, Washington shifted in his bed and saw someone knock on the door. Big man, tall, broad-shouldered. Smooth dark hair covering the top of his head, green eyes that called memories Washington couldn’t yet touch. Something didn’t register in his brain, a distant fact nagging to be remembered and not quite adding up with reality. 

The man walked into the room and waved at Washington. Washington spotted the scarring on the man’s throat as the man signed, _Agent Washington._

This must be… A translator? Someone to teach him sign language? None of that quite seemed right. Washington’s brain was still muddy, not yet awake. The man drew closer. His familiarity was driving Washington crazy. 

Washington signed back, _Who are you?_

The man visibly flinched. Shit. Maybe Washington could’ve been a little more tactful- but he _did_ just wake up, and that was his excuse. 

_You don’t remember?_ The man signed. 

Washington stared at him. The green eyes took him back- Project Freelancer? Something about the curve of the man’s lips said home. A Freelancer… Where was Carolina? Washington now remembered her being just as weak and unsettled as he had been. Was she here? 

He turned to the man and signed, _Do you know where Carolina is?_

The man’s eyes flashed pain. He gulped heavily and replied, _She’s on Earth. Leaving soon to head this way._

_Why is she on Earth?_

The man’s eyes begged Washington to remember, to care, but Washington needed to know his friends were okay. He continued, _Where are the Reds and Blues?_

The man steadied. _They’re fine. Washington, how do you know sign language?_

The question caught him off-guard, but he remembered the answer to this one and started to sign: _I learned it to speak to-_

His hand froze in mid-air as Washington gaped at him. There was no way- but the eyes were the same- the jaw- the hair was so different, so new. The same build. But- he was dead- 

But if he was dead he wouldn’t be standing there. And this would be a shitty afterlife. 

Washington’s heartbeat increased tenfold, humming in his chest. The monitor next to the bed went wild. There was no way- holy shit- 

His lips moved, begging for sound, and he forced his hands back up. _Maine! How!?_

Maine met his eyes with sorrow. _You never looked for me. I’ve been looking for you since the fall._

Washington’s heart twisted. _I thought you were gone. I thought-_ (what were the words?) _-I thought Sigma had you. You weren’t you anymore and then you were dead._

_The AI unit broke from the fall,_ Maine signed, stepping right up next to Washington. _When it did, I was freed. I swam to the cliffs and waited, and no one ever found me. I’ve been trying to catch up to you since then. It’s by chance I found you now._

Washington’s eyes watered and he blinked to clear them. _If I had known, I never would have left you._

Maine’s hand encircled Washington’s. _I know._

Maine leaned down to Washington and his hand brushed Washington’s jaw, green eyes searching Washington’s face. Something that had been broken in Washington for years, some jagged piece of memory, a knob of grief lodged against his ribs, finally cleared, healed. Washington had so long thought Maine was dead- and yet- 

Soft lips touched his. 

For the first time in years, Washington was home.


End file.
